How Much Damage Are We Actually Doing to Our Planet?

1) What are the damages we are doing to our planet?
2) How many hectares of land lost to soil erosion this year so far?
3) What are the potential consequences of this damage?
4) What is a significant step forwards in reducing our dependency on fossil?
5) How much damage are we actually doing to our planet?

It certainly doesn’t come as any surprise to hear that we’re doing damage to our planet; we’re reminded of it on a near daily basis on just about every media channel you can think of. We’re constantly told that we need to reduce our energy consumption, we’re running out of fossil fuels and that our actions have and will continue to cause untold damage to our environment and wildlife through global warming.

The question is; how true is all of this? How much damage are we actually doing to our planet?

Fossil Fuels

In recent years renewable energy has become better known and has increased in popularity; we’re seeing homes installing solar panels all over the country! Renewable energy is obviously a significant step forwards in reducing our dependency on fossil but the statistics are still very worrying.Check out these statistics from http://www.worldometers.info/

The speed at which we’re using coal, gas and oil is staggering and according to these statistics, there is only just over 40 years let until the world runs out of oil. It is estimations and statistics such as these that make us sit up and listen!

Our Environment

As we’re going about our daily lives we rarely give a second thought to the scale of our environmental impact and why would we? We’ve never seen the destruction of forests and we can’t physically see the CO2 being released into the atmosphere so we push it to the back of our minds. Put simply, out of sight out of mind. So what would we see if we looked at the damage we’re causing?

– Over 4,000,000 hectares of forest has been lost this year so far
– Over 5,000,000 hectares of land lost to soil erosion this year so far
– Over 26,000,000,000 tons of CO2 emissions this year so far
– Over 7,000,000 tons of toxic chemicals released into the environment this year so far

Those figures probably mean very little as they are entirely incomprehensible; no one can truly imagine what 26,000,000,000 tons of Co2 looks like as a result, we tend to forget the magnitude of what we’re creating.

What Are The Potential Consequences?

So, what are the potential consequences of this damage that we have done/are continuing to do to our plant? We’re all more than familiar with the term ‘global warming’ and we’re also aware that it has been called a myth or scaremongering but we’re not here to debate whether global warming actually exists. We’re here to look at the impact the changing environment as had and will continue to have:

– The Baiji dolphin is thought to now be extinct due to river siltation as a result of deforestation.
– Many polar bears are drowning as they are forced to swim much longer distances to reach ice floes. A recent U. S. Geological Survey predicts that as much as two-thirds of the world’s polar bear sub-populations will be extinct by 2050 as a result of the melting Artic ice caps.
– Many Antarctic penguin populations have shrunk by a third over the last 25 years as a result of declines in sea-ice habitat.
– Scientists predict that a 3.6 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature would destroy 97% of the world’s coral reefs.

It’s overwhelmingly clear that our energy requirements and the by-products of this, is having a significant negative impact on our planet and that if we continue, the impact will continue to grow with increasingly detrimental consequences.

Surely it’s time to commit to using renewable energy sources and reducing our energy consumption as much as possible. Turn your lights off, turn down your heating system and improve energy efficiency, do whatever you can; no matter how small, it’s a step in the right direction.